001foreign so much foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign chairwoman Robinson here Mrs black here Mr Connor here Mr Brown here Mrs Jones here Mr King here Mr Perez here Mrs Faye Robinson here Mr Smith here Mrs sermon here Dr Wingate here Mrs Davis Miss Davis superintendent Dr Roberson here great do I have a motion to approve the agenda as amended sorry the removal is item five exemplars of Excellence so moved okay I'm sorry there's two oh and in addition of the um underboard matters item C request for new positions apologies thank you do have a motion to approve though so moved second thank you call for the vote Mrs black yes Mr Connor yes Mr Brown Mr Brown no Mrs Jones yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes Mrs fry
002Robinson yes Mr Smith yes Mrs sermon yes Dr Wingate yes chairwoman Robinson yes all right um we will have our pledge our our pledge of meditation um from Principal Upton of Woodmore Elementary School welcome good evening Madam chair Dr Roberson and members of the board thank you for the opportunity to present at tonight's board meeting this evening I've invited to invited two of my Leading Ladies of our Woodmore third grade team we have Miss Brianna Hargett and Miss Elena Carlson who will be leading us with our meditation and pledge this evening [Music] good evening my name is Brianna Hargett and this is my teammate and colleague Elena Carlson we teach third grade at Woodmore Elementary on Monday we celebrated Dr Martin Luther King Jr he was a man of influential change who led powerful movements
003to cultivate social and racial Justice it is a difficult task to put into words just how inspiring Dr King is and was today we wanted to celebrate the way that our students have accepted King's challenge to be rooted in love seek Justice in all and promote Equity our students actions embody Justice through love Martin Luther King Jr said power at its best is love implementing the demands of Justice and Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love I came to Woodmore elementary through Teach for America with the vision of bringing Justice and Equity to the classroom as I have progressed through these years I have come to realize that my students already held a deep and innate sense of empathy which is the Bedrock of Justice I have learned about love
004joy and empathy from observing my third grade students relationships one student hand writes messages of affirmation I have one right here she gave me an encouragement to give to her classmates when they are feeling down she has brightened my day by slipping a piece of paper into my hand that says I appreciate and value you today says you're kind when another student's mother was in the hospital she wrote a note to him that said I care about you after the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts performed at our school one of my students raised his hand to let a performer know that even though her shoe had fallen off during the performance her dance was beautiful Dr King advocated that change makers seek Justice through love I meet with a group of my students
005two times a month during this time I ask them how I can be the best teacher for them they give me kind and sincere feedback sometimes you move too fast and some of our peers are left behind they tell me my students advocate for Equitable consequences restorative justice and rigorous academics with an access point for all students in addition to miss Carlson's celebrations I would like to share my small acts for my students that made a large impact in our school last Wednesday I asked my students to find some Wednesday wisdom for a morning meeting and write it down on a note card I explained to them that it could be a quote that they want to live by motivation to get through the rest of their week or just something that really speaks to
006who they are as my students were searching and writing their quotes down I was moved by the quotes that they chose one of my students chose Dr King's quote Darkness cannot drive out Darkness only light can do that and hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that a few weeks ago one of my students noticed that another student in our class was not as fortunate as the others unprompted the next morning my student walks into class with a brand new outfit in a slightly used pair of Jordans he wanted his classmate to feel accepted and loved no matter what his outward appearance showed he saw beyond that that day my student not only impacted his classmate's life but everyone around him and I believe that he set the precedent of Performing actions that
007are rooted in love as always I moved and changed through my students actions each and every day however there's just one particular student and Circumstance that really struck me deep last week a third grade student that I Mentor was in my classroom checking in with me this particular nice particular student and I share some much common ground the difference is he is nine years old and I'm an adult sharing the same heartbreak so I called him up to my desk to check in with him because he was visibly upset so he brought his paper up to my desk and on it he wrote R.I.P bro when I asked him how he was feeling he just responded I just miss my brother unfortunately I too lost my brother this past summer we talked about how writing
008notes to his brother helped him cope with the pain that he feels I shared with him our unfortunate commonality and said thank you for sharing such a positive way to help me channel my grief to which he replied thank you for showing up today even though it was hard you see teaching goes beyond just the curriculum it's making those deep connections with our students that are rooted in love that enforce powerful change we cannot do this work that we do every day without the influence of our students who Inspire us to live out Dr King's values as we continue to celebrate Dr King through this week I feel honored to nurture the sense of justice through love that my students embody may we continue to cultivate change makers and advocates if you can't fly then
009run if you can't run then walk if you can't walk then crawl but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward I think thank you at this time would you please stand with me as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you so much that was wonderful foreign we are going to move into our board member disclaimer statement and we'll start with Mr grown not necessary okay okay I declare that I have a relative who works for the school system at the board's vote on uh budget or policies may have an effect on my relative's employment even so I hereby certify that I
010will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have a relative who works for the school system and the board's vote may have an effect on my relatives employment even so I hereby certify that I will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have a relative who works for the school system and that the boards vote on budget policies Etc may have an effect on my relatives employment even so I hereby certified that I will pass my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have relatives who work for the school system and the boards vote on all things may have an effect on my relatives employment even so I hereby certify that I will
011cast my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have a relative who works for the school system and that the boards vote on budget policies et cetera may have an effect on my relative's employment even so I hereby certify that I will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have a family member who works for the school system and that the boards vote on budget policies Etc may have an effect on my family members employment even so I hereby certify that I will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system I declare that I have a relative who worked for the school system and that the board's vote may have an effect on my relative's employment even so
012I hereby certify that I will cast my vote in the best interest of the school system all right do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda to approve second thank you are there any items to pull uh Mrs Thurman because I just have one uh the uh I think it's on the consent agenda because it's First Street it's uh policy 2.300 is that it's under board matters it's under board matters okay and certainly we are there any other items to pull man I like y'all this is great okay let's call The Boat yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes yes yes yes all right moving on to board matters um item a um do I have a motion to approve uh the old East Lake storm water easement should I move second call
013for the boat yes Mr coffee yes yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes yes Mr Smith yes yes yes yes Item B board policies um since their first read we do not have to vote but we can have discussion for anyone that has questions or comments all right Mrs Thurman yes on uh this policy 2.300 and all of our policies I've noticed we've gone through and we have and I heard them say something there mean to go but Dr Martin Luther King used the word Equitable but I don't think he ever knew that word uh it I don't think that word was used back then like it is now and while we I just don't understand why we're going through and changing the word equality um with Equitable and equivalent with Equitable and why why
014are we if they're the site if they say they mean basically the same thing and I know I know the little I know the little uh illustration of the little boy looking over the fence I've seen it a thousand times but I don't really know what that has to do with this except that it just is a word that we change for what reason is it a state thing or what is gonna sorry um T said you know is going to require us to show how we are letting funds follow students where they go so a student with a disability a student that's economically disadvantaged so I would and I'll turn to Scott on this the word equivalent I think means like equal across and Equitable shows that funds are going to be following students
015yeah and actually to be honest I hadn't thought about the the Tisa aspect of this but that's a that's a good point so equitable is going to address what's necessary equivalence and mathematical computation right so um and if you think about this through the lens of special ed um it would be equivalent if you just divided all of the the dollars that were that you sent to schools um on a per people basis and said we're going to spend this much money on a student with with intense special needs that would be equivalent it would also be in violation of federal law um so I as I understand what Dr Robertson is suggesting here equitable allows for the fact that maybe you're going to send some more funds where it's necessary to address the operational
016needs of the system but it already says equivalent basis on the knee according to the grade levels and need I mean that's already there so it it is there that's true and I I don't know what the rationale was for using equivalent when this was first drafted equivalent basis according to grade levels and need because since needs may be different by definition they wouldn't necessarily be equivalent to be to be perfectly honest this is a policy that was drafted by tsba forever ago uh and I and I don't really know why they use the word equivalent there I just don't um in terms of why the change was made to put Equitable there I think Dr Robertson's reference and and the the tip of the hat to Special Ed I think is a really good
017illustration why equivalent maybe is it what we what they meant in the first instance okay thank you Mrs Robinson well I will go and work as saying that I have a problem with it constantly being said because the information I read on the definition of uh Equity is actually advocating part of a critical race Theory and that's my concern because all of a sudden it's being used and I've seen the formula for Tissa and I totally agree because one student might need three addition or a base a base and then a nut and that's all that one student might need another student might need three different three additional things and I'm all for that I believe it's our responsibility to provide the opportunity for every child we can't make the child take the opportunity but
018I I I would like to since critical race theory is not allowed in Tennessee I have to ask why Tissa is uh or they suggesting well use that word no equity is I mean hours long conversation about this is not has nothing to do with critical race Theory we're not including critical race Theory and our curriculum our curriculum's approved by the state you know I I could take this also back to the conversation about differentiated com compensation Equitable is differentiated essentially what we're saying is that you know kids that go to school they come with different needs it could be economically disadvantaged it could be a learning disability it could be a language issue and and what we're saying here just like Tisa is going to require us to do is show how those dollars
019are following students where they go so that we address their needs okay thank you okay uh Mr Connor yeah I just I think we're making something out of nothing I think we we update language as things go on you know like we don't say consumption anymore we say tuberculosis let's just we grow up we change words I think we're just changing to make it fit better what uh Scott said so okay um any more comments on board policy 2.300 or comments on additional policies listed on this agenda not just any policy I would like to own 2.806 uh it says may require a contract is there a reason why it does not say shall require a contract which lane are you into um yes and quotations which line 27. okay Lindsay you might want to
020come up and I'm sorry did you say why I'm 27. yes so um and Scott correct me if I'm wrong um so this is not a change that's not a red line version that maintains our current policy statement but as I understand we use our purchase orders in nearly every instance if we have a supplemental agreement we'll attach that to the purchase order but every written authorization that comes from Hamilton County Schools is issued through a purchase order so if we issue a purchase order we may not necessarily need to have a separate supplemental written contract that's duly I've misspoken no no that's that's a very accurate way to put it so so from a very technical perspective a bid that's accepted if you're if you're if you're making a bid for a pens you
021know a fungible good where you get it from this Source or that Source it's the exact same thing a bid that's accepted is technically a contract so what this is referring to here is that there there may be some contracts for something that's not a fungible good it may be unique enough that we need to go beyond the bid specs and uh maybe negotiate some details so what so what this policy does is it recognizes uh in as few words as we can uh that that you may have some fungible Goods where purchase orders form the entirety of the agreement but there may be some situations where the board is bidding out something or the purchase office is building something out and we need a contract to describe uh that when will it be delivered
022if it doesn't meet our specs what are our recourses um if something goes very wrong who Bears the responsibility so so this recognizes that some contracts are a little more complicated than others thank you Lindsay Connor did you have a comment or is your light just on cool all right uh there are no more comments we'll move on okay no we're not sure it's not about it okay we will need to vote on item C and we'll vote individually on each uh position um do I have a motion to approve item c1a is there a second okay call for the vote please is it was that Mr Smith uh yes this is black yes Mr Connor yes Mr Brown yes Mrs Jones yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes Mrs Faye Robinson yes Mr Smith
023yes Mrs Thurman I'm voting yes because most of my principals alone anymore I don't find it necessary but yes Dr Wingate yes chairwoman Robinson yes do I have a motion to approve Item B I'm sorry item C 1B removed second thank you Mrs black yes Mr Connor yes Mr Brown yes Mrs Jones yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes Mrs Faye Robinson yes Mr Smith yes Mrs sermon yes Dr Wingate yes chairwoman Robinson yes do you have a motion to approve item c1c should have moved thank you okay Mrs black yes Mr Connor yes Mr Brown yes Mrs Jones yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes Mrs Faye Robinson yes Mr Smith yes Mrs Thurman yes Dr Wingate yes chairwoman Robinson yes and I need a motion to approve item c1d second what yes Mr
024Connor yes Mr Brown yes Mrs Jones yes Mr King yes Mr Perez yes Mrs Faye Robinson yes Mr Smith yes Mrs Thurman yes Dr Wingate yes chairwoman Robinson yes great okay um that concludes our agenda session um we'll do a very brief committee update um Mr or Dr Wingate could you give us an update on the policy committee yes so if you'll look there in the events and announcements um I have scheduled tentatively uh this boardroom for policy committee meeting on Monday February the 6th um also have spoken with uh Shannon Moody and her team around just trying to come up with a good Cadence for the board here as far as a presentation of policies before approval of policies um so kind of right now we're getting them and we recognize the uh the
025difficulty with that getting them at the same month so there probably will be a month that we have to double up on some policies in terms of you know ones that are up for review but we'll definitely have that ironed out by that meeting and uh look forward to everybody coming to policy committee wait we're all coming well you know you're you're welcome see I'm going to committee everybody's on the committee no no ex-officio thank you so much greatly appreciate your hard work on that committee um uh Mr Perez would you give us update on the budget committee as well so Tuesday January 31st at 5 30 p.m in this room we will be having our um budget uh committee or finance committee meeting uh this is the beginning of the process of our budget
026uh our budget will be presented most likely in May correct uh Dr Robertson as usual you guys voting on an April kind of question um and so uh uh it's a process uh this being the first time that we uh in my experience in two years I've been here where we meet together as a committee prior just to be able to discuss some of the items uh and hopefully uh uh iron out some of the needs for for our budget discussions so great thank you so much for setting up for setting that meeting and doing that work Mrs black the discipline committee would you like to give us an update yes the discipline committee met recently we had a really good um open discussion and review of what our current approach to discipline and policies
027are um I haven't set a second meeting for that um that committee but it became very aware like apparent that there is a connection between what the the state has instructed us to do as far as our approach to discipline um there's a connection between that and our new funding model antisa and the staff that are needed to properly execute our approach to discipline um and that maybe some of the issues that we're having illustrate um you know that need gap of like what we've been instructed to do and the approach we're supposed to take and not having the staff to do it I'm excited to to to come back together and talk about the staff that's needed it's great okay and Mrs Jones the facilities committee so we don't have a pending day for
028facilities committee meeting right now miss black um held a meeting with Hamilton County representation at uh Howard to discuss the Howard County situation so there's a there was discussion there we have a committee meeting a community meeting coming up um tentatively pending securing the location but tentatively we have a community meeting um as it relates to the rezoning for east region Brainerd on January 30th at 6 PM we're hoping to secure Brainerd High School for that but that's tentative and we have to confirm with Dr sorrells because we switch dates um so that's our other day once we have that meeting Miss Black is at her meeting but once we have that meeting we'll convenient again for facilities meeting to continue to discuss um those issues and begin to um discuss how we will bring
029to the board any recommendations from that as well as prior beginning to figure out how to prioritize our facility needs and that that information okay with Dr Robertson's meeting but I was there no honey according to the community Miss Black Hill to meet Nick I'm just trying to get you accustomed to how this is great Dr Robinson was just an accessory I mean that's not what happens my boy is the board member it had to be but anyway it wasn't me he talked a whole lot for an accessory you know figuring out I was taking the heat for for a new board member you know absolutely but no that's when you know that's what they think and regarding facilities um we have a meeting on the calendar for Saturday January 28th and I have not
030received an agenda for that yet but I think facilities will be a primary topic with the with the County Commission so and that will be held here [Laughter] January Saturday morning yeah so thank you to the commission for that yeah okay um Mr Connor would like to give us an update on the legislative work that he's doing all right let's um let's give Mr Connor a moment to give us an update on the legislative committee yeah so the the part about the legislation it is about to go in session we haven't had as many bills as they thought we would have uh yet presented they have until Valentine's Day to present all the bills that will be gone through in this session um there are a couple a couple already on uh there I'll put
031together an entire report of what all we have at the February meeting that's necessary for the board but I also wanted to say um about the third grade retention because we've heard you I've personally received multiple emails and calls about third grade retention long from concerned parents and from our Educators who have their uh ability to progress in Hamilton County's our Hamilton County students into Future Ready graduates that's been handcuffed uh so much so that I asked to include a resolution on tonight's agenda only to find out that Mr Keane had also already drafted one of his own but between then and now and as we are about to talk about on as we just said we have a joint commission board meeting that is going to be attended by Senator Watson and I believe
032Senator Gardenhire as well um and since they're going to be there I plan to express what I would have in that resolution as I'm sure Mr Keane will to the Senators face to face if the resolution still needs then Mr King and I plan to meet in in an open meeting and put together a joint resolution that we would present to the board at the next meeting so thank you thank you all right thank you all for your updates um for events and announcements we have parent teacher conferences uh January 23rd through March 3rd Friday January 27th is the County Commission legislative delegation breakfast I believe that's at 8 30 at the um Roanoke oh that's right yes the person that's right yep across from Orchard knob Middle School yes uh Saturday January 28th from
0338 to 12. we have a work session with the County Commission and um that is likely where we'll be discussing some facility um items Tuesday January 31st 5 30 PM finance committee meeting here in the boardroom yes but going back to the uh breakfast that's at the new career center on Roanoke that's not across from Orchard knob yes uh Friday January 27th I believe that's at 8 30 a.m so it's at the construction career center yes yes if you've attended in the past then it normally is across from original Middle School yes okay um no um Wednesday February 1st is a half day for students Monday February 6th is off at 5 30 PM is a policy committee meeting that Dr Wingate mentioned and then please please please mark this down on your Calendars our
034February board meeting we will have an executive session at 4 pm um so please plan to be here at 4pm Mr Robinson all right well that we're adjourned I'm so sorry before we adjourned so uh just for you guys leave we have a small token to start uh School Board appreciation week which is next week uh for you new board members there's actually a week dedicated uh to to appreciating you guys I will say on behalf of the school system um teachers leaders our senior leadership team and central office staff you guys uh volunteered to do a job that not many people want to do and you do not get it's a joy every day I know it is Mr Perez uh you you guys don't get compensated enough to do what you do so
035we we appreciate the time and the effort and each one of you I know you you care deeply about this system and and so we appreciate uh the work that you're doing this is a a small start to appreciating you over the next uh week in the coming months ahead but we did want to publicly mention that next week as school board appreciation week and and we appreciate what you guys do thank you very much thank you thank you have a great night we're not getting it